The CPTPP is one of three
mega-regional agreements that will change the landscape of the international
economic order in the coming years. The origins of the historic deal can be
traced to the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPSEP) Agreement
concluded by Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore in the fall of 2005. Three
years later, eight other Pacific-Rim countries began discussions with the
members of TPSEP in hopes of concluding a broader deal on trade and investment
in the region. After some delay, the 12 participating nations reached agreement
on October 5, 2015 resulting in an historic and wide-ranging agreement called
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. In 2017 the United States
withdrew from the TPP giving rise to speculation that the Agreement would
collapse. However, in the Spring of 2017 the remaining 11 members of the TPP
decided to revive the Agreement. Those efforts proved successful and in January
2018 states announced that they had reached a new Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The CPTPP incorporates the original
TPP with suspension of a limited number of provisions. Similar to the TPP and other
mega-regional trade deals, state parties to the CPTPP have pledged to reduce or
eliminate tariffs on a wide range of goods and services. Such commitments exist
in chapters pertaining to textiles, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and
phytosanitary measures, competition, state-owned enterprises and small- and
medium-sized enterprises. The ambitious pact also attempts to establish closer
relationships between the Pacific-Rim parties by promoting regulatory coherence
and the reduction of non-tariff barriers to trade and investment. CPTPP
chapters on competitiveness, customs administration and trade facilitation, services,
investment, regulatory coherence and e-commerce attempt to reduce the burdens
placed on businesses operating within the agreement. Nonetheless, state parties
to this new arrangement have also suspended a number of provisions that were
included in the TPP. Suspended provisions are located in a variety of CPTPP
chapters, including those related to trade facilitation, investment, services,
public procurement, intellectual property rights (IPR), environment and
transparency.

As with the TPP, the CPTPP contains 30 chapters covering topics such as:

Cooperation and Capacity Building

Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation

Competitiveness and Business Facilitation

Dispute Settlement

Development

E-Commerce

Environment

Financial Services

Government Procurement

Investment

Intellectual Property

Labour

National Treatment & Market Access for Goods

Regulatory Coherence

Rules of Origin

SPS Measures

State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies

TBT Measures

Textile and Apparel Goods

Trade in Services

Telecommunications

As countries work toward signing
the CPTPP in the next few weeks, there are continued debates in numerous media
outlets about the impacts (both positive and negative) that CPTPP will have on
certain industry sectors across the trans-pacific region. Moreover, some issues
have yet to be settled. Canada, for example, has been particularly concerned
about protecting its cultural industries and Vietnam has expressed concerns
about some of the labour protection provisions in the CPTPP. Separate side
letters between member states on a number of issues are expected. New Zealand
has, for example, signed side letters with five other CPTPP parties to exclude
compulsory ISDS provisions from their agreement. Texts of those side letters is
available through the MFAT website at: www.mfat.govt.nz/cptpp.

The co-editors invite you to contribute
to this special edition with unpublished or previously published articles,
conference papers, research papers and case studies addressing the CPTPP and corresponding
issues raised by any of its chapters. For example the following topics raise
interesting points for discussion:

The convergence or divergence of international trade and/or investment law trends in the CPTPP.

The balance struck within a TPP chapter between measures designed to facilitate international trade and/or investment and a host state's sovereign right to regulate as a means of achieving legitimate policy objectives, including the protection of human rights, health, the environment, public morals, cultural institutions, the financial sector or intellectual property.

Intended and unintended legal consequences of the CPTPP's "rules of origin" provisions on local labour markets.

The facilitation or impairment of market access for trade in services under the CPTPP.

The treatment of technical barriers to trade, such as labeling and manufacturing standards, or food safety measures under the CPTPP versus WTO agreements and other mega-regional trade treaties.

Supply chain risks and opportunities created by the CPTPP for multi-national organizations and/or member states and state-owned enterprises.

The impact of the CPTPP on transformative/disruptive technologies or business models and related domestic law.

Reconciling member states' rights and obligations under the CPTPP with their other international trade and/or investment law treaty obligations.

Changes made to various aspects of the investment chapter.

Procedural and remedial advantages and disadvantages of the TPP's dispute resolution provisions as compared to other international trade and/or investment law treaties.